Curtailing Consumer Liberty

I have always bemoaned the lack of free market thought in India. Let me continue on that road. Its a pity that socialist ramblings guide policy decisions in India. Its one sure way of ensuring we remain a 'third world' country.

The latest in the line of lousy policy decisoins comes from a Planning Commission working group that's seeks to impose what could be a green cess of 3% of the annual insured value of all private vehicles and a steep urban transport tax to be collected at the time of purchase of private vehicles.

Welcome to what is the socialist liberal nightmare. One of the two key players to a country's prosperity, namely consumers (the other being producers) get penalised in such nightmares. Consumers are asked to pay more and more, so government can continue on with its hair brained schemes. Consider this. Should somebody like Mr. Sreedharan, the metro man who built a public transportation service be at the helm of a group that tries to curtail my use of my private vehicle? And again, if its private vehicles and their use that's being taxed, why not other products and services? Why shouldn't such planning groups recommend more taxes on everything we use? The way I see it, this global warming nonsense can be caused by every possible product and service we use, not just cars and mo'bikes!

Tell you what, the planning commission group can start leading the way through setting an example. Let them first give up their cars, their microwave ovens, refrigerators, mobile phones, washing machines, LCD TVs, iPads, laptops, and their like, to exhibit their commitment to saving the planet.

We'll then follow.

Better still, why don't we just ban cars and bikes, and go back to the bullocks and carts so we can keep everything 'green'! Or even better still, don't we just abandon our urban lives and retreat into caves!

Its time Sreedharan and his group took some lessons in free market economics. It wouldn't also hurt if they read up evidence that shows global warming is hoax that suits the Gores and railway engineers of the world. I know that's wishful thinking, but it could probably save us from hare brained ideas that seek to curtail consumer liberty. And liberty of that kind is what keeps a nation on a path to prosperity. 'Green cesses' do nothing other than fill government coffers, which in other words can be called hoarding money with zilch accountability.

Your guess is as good as mine on what happens to zero accountability money.

Comments

'Something is better than nothing; but nothing is better than nonsense'. I wish we had no Planning Commission in this country, 'cuase all they have done is to make schemes of hell.

How much of this nonsense can this country take? But sadly not a single so-called intellectual & thought leader of this country shall protest. As Mrs. Gandhi had said in her own words regarding energency - 'but not a dog barked'. The comment was nothing short of being true for hardly anyone including the pillars of our democracy had shown any defiance. We have hardly changed since then. Not only roads, this country is filled mostly with 'idiots'.Debashish